Bayside Chatter: Guzzo lifts Saints hockey

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Former Mariner Libby Guzzo had a goal and an assist in a St. Scholastica 5-0 victory over Finlandia College of Michigan Saturday and had the game-winning goal the next night as Scholastica won again by a score of 3-1. 

Guzzo, the only senior on the team, was a member of the University of Minnesota Duluth women’s hockey team the past three seasons. She left UMD because she wanted to see more playing time her senior season.

Girls hockey

The girls hockey team hosts Hibbing/Chisholm tonight in a game rescheduled from earlier this season. Saturday they play at Hayward at 3 p.m. and Tuesday evening they are at Cloquet.

Hibbing is 1-8 against pretty tough competition and Hayward is 4-1 and ranked No. 6 in Wisconsin. Alyssa Ahlgren and Hannah Dvorak lead the Hurricanes in scoring and freshman Leandra Aldoff leads them in goal scoring. Cloquet is 4-4-1.

The Mariners have girls from four different high schools on the team. Loreena Stage, Taylor Skelton, and Cassie Swanson are from Ely. Nicole Jaeger, Bailey Rykken, McKenzie Schreffler, Natalie Halverson, Carley Wills, and Brianna Aho are from Babbitt-Embarrass. Anna Carman is from Cook County and Phoenix Lillis, Sydney Topp, Marina Carter, Allison Morris, Shay Viola, Taylor Guzzo, Rebecca Dilley, Samantha Anderson, Jessica Hipple, Kristina Thums, Rachel Dilley, Katelyn DeRoiser, and Nikki Mealey are from Silver Bay.

The rankings for Class A in girls hockey has pretty much remained the same as far as the top five teams go since the preseason poll only in a slightly different order. Warroad is still No. 1 followed by Blake, South St. Paul, Breck and Mound-Westonka. Only three of the original five AA teams remain in the top five with No. 1 Minnetonka followed by Edina, Roseville, Stillwater and Coon Rapids. Stillwater and Coon Rapids replaced Hill-Murray and Roseau. Eveleth-Gilbert is No. 15 in A and Grand Rapids/Greenway is No. 19 in AA. Right now I’d make Chisago Lakes the heavy favorite in 7A and Grand Rapids the favorite in 7AA.

Boys hockey

The Mariner boys are also at Hayward tomorrow and will play at 1 p.m. The Hayward boys started the season 1-3-1. After that the boys are off until a home holiday tournament.

For the boys four of the top five remain in Class A with St. Thomas, Breck and Rochester Lourdes still No. 1, 2, and 3 followed by Blake and Warroad. Hermantown is at No. 6, Virginia is No. 7, Duluth Central is No. 9, Duluth Marshall is at No. 10, and Hibbing at No. 12. Right now, I like Hibbing as the favorite in 7A which has Wayzata taking over the top spot from Edina followed by Eden Prairie, Edina, Benilde-St. Margaret’s and Duluth East. I like East in 7AA in a close one over Grand Rapids.

Former Mariners bantam coach Pat Christopherson is now the head high school hockey coach in Worthington.

Tags: bayside chatter, sports, schools, hockey